Animal Squad
by Mattchewy
Summary: A project started during the Cold War is brought into the light from a data leak. Non-human soldiers. Animals that can walk on two feet, are shaped like humans, and are trained in combat. With the world hunting for them, the only ones they can trust are each other. Comments are very needed! I love criticism! I mainly update this on Ao3, so updates may be a few days behind over here
1. Before it all began

**1984**

It was a dark and stormy night as Doctor Garl Yevgenievich approached the house, a large heavy case in hand. He desperately knocked on the door, rain pounding on his clothes. The door opened, letting Yevgenievich quickly come in before shutting.

Garl sighed. "Damn Americans, I thought you were supposed to pick me up at the station!" Garl glared at the only person in the room, a trenchcoat wearing African-american male with a long scar across his face. He looked at Garl with a grimace on his face.

"You weren't supposed to come this early." The man took off his trenchcoat, revealing a army uniform. "What happened over there?"

Garl looked saddened. "The project... they shut it down. I managed to get some of the samples but... they killed them all, Marcus. All of the subjects. Even the little ones."

Marcus gritted his teeth in anger. "Bullshit! We were this close to getting them out!" He pounded a fist on the wall, breathing heavily as he let out his anger. Garl looked down at the case.

"But I was able to save one of them." Garl put down the case and opened it. Marcus walked over and looked down into it.

"Holy shit."

It was a sleeping female raccoon, noticeably pregnant. Marcus looked at with shock. "How is this possible?"

Garl looked at it with tears in his eyes. "The gene meant to enhance the intelligence was supposed to suppress the possibility of pregnancy but... it was immune. The child will be the first of its kind."

Marcus leaned back against the wall, mostly to keep himself calm. It was possible. The American project could finally work. And the children...

"Will it also have the gene?"

Garl sighed. "We don't know. The samples I managed to grab were from similar tests. Canis latrans, Lutra lutra, over 20 different samples that you can use to give the gene to your project."

Marcus looked everything over. "I'll call command. We'll get this to our people."

Garl looked at Marcus. "Thank you. What you have done has saved an entire generation."

Marcus extended his hand. "It's not me you should be thanking. It's yourself. You got them out."

Garl sighed, looking down. "Tell me, will this truly change the world, for the better?"

Looking down at the sleeping raccoon, Marcus smiled.

"Who knows?"

 **ANIMAL SQUAD**

 **BY**

 **MATTCHEWY**

 **TIME: 22:20**

 **LOCATION: CLASSIFIED**

It was getting dark over the harsh desert. In the middle of a small town, the terrorists waited. It was a safe-house in a small village, not really patrolled by any American forces, leaving them with room to do what they want. The place was loading with Ak-47's, IED's, and even Suicide Vests. All ready to unleash hell on those not prepared.

But hell was coming to them.

Saleel stood by the door, gun in hand as his eyes swept along the dry desert. It was cold, and he shivered as a breeze went by. At least he wasn't getting shot at by an american.

Suddenly, he saw something around the corner. Leaping to attention, he lifted his gun to his shoulder and aimed it at the moving thing. It burst out of the corner and...

It was too fast for Saleel to see, but he saw it was on four legs, and had scampered off. He smirked. Damn animals eating the trash all over this town. He turned back to his post, but was suddenly hit by something hitting his back. He tried to move to get it off, but suddenly a knife was at his throat.

He turned to look, and all of his fear amplified as he saw his assailant. It was some sort of canine of some sort, grinning with his sharp teeth. He had seconds before the knife went across his throat, and his world went black.

The coyote grimaced as the blood hit his muzzle. His paws went to his shirt to wipe it off, before sighing and putting his paw to his earpiece. "Guard 1, down."

Soon after that, another animals emerged from the nearby corner. The raccoon was carrying a mini MGL launcher on his back, along with a Kriss Vector in his paws. He grimaced at the blood on the coyote. "Hate it when they spurt like that."

The coyote nodded, lifting his rifle up towards the building. "How many do you think are in there?"

The raccoon hefted his grenade launcher in his paws. "Ash, Does it matter? This baby is going to solve everything."

"Ash" looked at the raccoon disapprovingly. "Bandit, We don't know if there are any civilians in there. Remember Mombasa?"

"Bandit" sighed and put the grenade launcher back on his back. "Damnit."

The two moved up to the door of the building, guns at the ready. Ash lifted his paw, and on the count of 3, they breached the building.

The terrorists were not prepared. Some of their cheap guns either jammed, or backfired. The ones that were able to shoot at the intruders were unable to due to the size and speed of the two agents. They were quick as they took down each room with precision, taking down terrorists before most could move. It only took 1 minute for the building to be cleared.

Bandit sighed, leaning against the wall, clearly tired. "Thank god for cheap guns."

Ash smirked. "Agreed."

The earpiece rang out with a chipper voice of their other squad member. "Animal, what's your actual?"

Ash responded. "We're all good, Robin Hood. We'll meet you at the evac site. Ash out." The connection severed, letting the two agents make their way to the evac site.

The two walked in the darkness of the desert. While it was cold, the fur was a good bonus to keep warm. Ash looked back at the raccoon.

"You did good there. Can't believe Weyland is marking you a B- in combat. Would have to call that an A. A+ if I wanted to be generous."

Bandit sighed. "Weyland can be a bitch. She takes off too much for the small things, like how many bullets you use and some shit. She's a damn sadist."

Ash laughed. "She is harsh. But she's just tough on slow learners. I thought the same of her once, and now... she has a good side too."

The raccoon looked up as they approached the evac site. He grinned "There's our ride."

The two rushed to get inside the helicopter, which flew off right as they got on. They closed the doors and leaning back in the chairs. On the other side was their other member, "Robin Hood". The fox looked at the two agents.

"Mission was a success. Nice job, Ash and Bandit." "Robin" smirked as he spoke, saying the code-names with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Bandit groaned. "I hate those stupid code-names! Why can't I just be called Rocket?" The raccoon grumbled in his seat.

Asher shrugged. "Blame the military. And you were the one to pick that code-name, right?" He smirked at the annoyed Rocket, who looked back at the coyote.

"Whatever. But Reynard over here picked the stupidest name of all! Robin Hood, really?"

The fox looking mockingly aghast. "It was my favorite movie! It was meant for me to pick!"

And so the team argued over stupid code-names all the way back home.


	2. Rising Tempest

The helicopter landed, letting the team out unto the helipad. Rocket let his legs stretch out. The ride back was an annoying journey, often forcing them to refuel due to flying all the way back to New York. At least he could see Marcus again.

Marcus had raised him since he was a child, after his mother had died in childbirth. He had been one of the first "natural born", animals that had been born with advanced intelligence and motor functions. He was a lot larger than an average raccoon, and pretty tall for his age too. Many of the other agents he knew were like that too.

They entered inside the complex. While many humans walked by, they made sure to watch their step. Didn't want to accidentally kick an unseen agent.

The place was packed with agents, both animal and human. Rows of offices were passed as they made their way inside. Rocket walked up to Marcus's office, and knocked on the door.

The door opened, letting Rocket and Asher inside the office. Marcus Chelly smiled as he let the two agents in. "Rocky. Asher. You made it. Good."

He sat down, letting the two agents leap up onto the nearby chairs. Marcus smirked. "Glad to see the mission was a success. They give a hard time."

Rocket scoffed. "We mowed through them pretty good. They never stood a chance!"

Marcus sighed. "Asher, you're dismissed. Rocket, we need to talk for a second."

Asher saluted the commander and left the room, leaving Rocket and Marcus alone.

The old man grabbed a file. "I told you that your mother was the only one alive from the massacre in 1984. But there was another." He opened the folder, revealing pictures of what appeared to be a Western Wolf hybrid, heavily scarred and restrained. "A relic of the old Soviet Union, alive. He's shares a similar genetic structure as you do."

Rocket grimaced as he pawed through the files. "And why should no one else hear this?"

Marcus continued. "Because he ripped through a army of Russian soldiers to get here and give us this information. They grabbed him, but not before we got this info. While he has similar genes to you, it's not what the Russians need for their projects. They want you."

Rocket looked at the old man. "Me? Why the hell do they want me?" He kept his voice neutral, but inside he felt a twinge of fear.

Marcus sighed, looking down at his desk. "Your mother was... very special. While she did not have vocal chords, she was still able to communicate on a advanced scale that none of the other animals at the time had. After... her death, her genes passed on to you. While I believe that Fenrir was a natural birth like you, you have one of the highest IQ's that I've ever seen in the Animal Project. What I'm saying is... you're in danger. Danger that we can't stop."

Rocket smirked. "You don't think I can handle a couple of Commies comin' at me? We can take them!"

"I know you think you can, but these people aren't the type to just walk away after a few casualties! I had to fight them back when we saved your mother, and we lost a lot of good people. And if I could... I would try to bring them back."

He looked over at a framed photo on his desk, showing a younger Marcus with a group of military people.

Rocket cringed. "I... I'm sorry. It's didn't know.."

"It's fine. You have that temper of your's getting you fired up. I was like that too. Until the cost became too high." Marcus shut the file with a loud clap. "Which is why I want you and Asher out of this city by nightfall."

"What?" The raccoon looked at Marcus quizzically. "Why the hell-"

"Because the info I got revealed we are compromised. They had used most of our older data for their projects, and they have a list of all of our safehouses. But the most troubling thing is who they are allied with. The Russians are working with the UNBSF. They are feeding them intel that Project Animal is a potential bioweapon. It's every country in the world working together on this."

Rocket paled. "That means..."

"They could come here at any time. And we could not do a damn thing without triggering a international incident. Once you get out of this room, take what you can and run. Leave anything behind that could betray your location. Stay in the underground. Bu-"

Marcus was interrupted by a voice coming from his earpiece. "Sir?"

Marcus pressed his finger to his ear."What?"

"The UNBSF is here."

Marcus motioned for Rocket to run.

Time was running out.

Quickly speeding through the silent hallway, he went right to Asher's room. Bursting through the door, he barely had time to explain before he was able to pack what he needed. Having gotten everything, the two raced out...

right into a waiting squad of UNBSF soldiers.

Scambling, the two avoiding gunfire, racing through hallways to the exit. Asher took a bullet to his side, causing him to fall and slide on the floor in a heap. Rocket, panicking, grabbed the coyote and jumped towards the vent.

UNBSF soldiers raced down the hallway, not noticing the vent moving back in place.

Rocket sighed in relief. He was glad he knew the map of the vents all around this place. He liked to hide in the dark, always popping out to scare the occasional guard. But now he had to get out.

"Mr. Chelly." Delilah stood in the over turned office of Marcus Chelley while they looked for the raccoon. He had been seen in Hall B with another one of the animals, but now they had disappeared.

The old man looked at Delilah with hatred in his eyes. "Whatever you think you're trying to achieve... it won't work."

Delilah sighed. "It's just my job. Bring him in, and Command drops whatever hammer it seeks to bring down on your program. This... "Rocket" is a potential bio-hazard."

Marcus swore, pointing a finger at the calm woman. "Bio-hazard? He's a person! He's not something you just take to experiment on!"

Delilah stared him down. "But haven't you done the same?"

Marcus grimaced. "It's... what Garl started was meant to be a entirely new sub-species. It was never intended to be a weapon. When the Soviet Union got wind of it, they took him in. And when it didn't have good results, they killed them all." He emphasized the last few words. "The only way I could make this project not seem like a loss to the government was to turn them into weapons. At least I gave them the ability to choose what they wanted."

Another man walked into the office, surprising Marcus. Marcus looked shocked as he looked at the man.

"Garl?"

The man grimaced.

The two mammals had made it to a parking lot connected to the vents. UNBSF was still inside the building, so now they had a chance to rest.

Rocket breathed heavily. They only had a bag with a days worth of clothes, rations, and one pistol with two mags. Not the worst load-out he's had to deal with. Mombasa was only him and a pair of underwear. HE cringed at the memory, before looking over at Asher.

Asher was leaning on one of the cars, his wound was looking worse. "Fucking hell..." He collapsed, Rocket scrambling towards the injured coyote.

"Asher!" He knelt down at the unconscious coyote, who was now breathing laboriously. The bullet must have hit something bad. He had to find some place to patch him up.

A hospital was out of the questions. Too many people, and even then, they would blow their cover so fast even the Flash couldn't save them.

But... Rocket remembered there was a vet hospital nearby. Marcus showed him a map once of the city and he had seen it being near the building. It had to be close.

Rocket couldn't drag Asher there. They would barely get a block before being spotted. It had to be just him. Opening one of the car, he laid Asher down on one of the car seats, leaving the door open. He grabbed the pistol from the bag.

"I'll be back. I promise."


	3. Interview with Garl Yevgenievich

1984

The noise of tape is heard as it starts recording. A man can be heard coughing.

Garl Yevgenievich (Notified as G)

G- Is it recording?

Agent Merle Rider (Notified as M)

M- Yes. We can get started now.

The shifting of a chair can be heard as Garl shifts his chair.

G- Do you want me to start from the beginning?

M - If you want to.

Garl sighs.

G- Alright. First, the origin of the project.

G - Project Animal was considered by most of our government to be a waste of time and resources. We were given little aid, but allowed to work. Even when other projects were... removed.

M - The Soviet Union let you create hybrids? I thought they hated genetic studies?

G - They do. But when given the chance to over take the United States, many lines are erased in the name of victory. So they allowed us to work, with the bare minimum of aid. But we were able to create miracles.

Garl coughed again.

G - We were meant to create a entire new sub-species. Ones that we could test with our new innovations without the cost of human life. But as Project Animal went on, I realized... they were like us.

G- The human DNA inside them allowed them to have a higher intelligence than a standard mammal. And even higher than a human if given certain parameters. That was when I contacted Marcus Chelly.

G- I had met Marcus once while in Berlin. He was a scientist, just like me. He knew only bits of what Project Animal was. But I was feeling guilt as the Project went on.

G- We were testing how much radiation a body could take before dying, different types of wounds, we were using them as test subjects! We were becoming the very thing we fought against all those years ago. So I prepared myself to defect.

G- I sent several samples over the months before I left, making sure that they were stable. That even if I died, the American could protect the next generation. But something went wrong.

G - I woke up, ready to get to work when a phone call came in. It was one of my assistants. They said they needed help with one of the subjects. But I was still drunk from the night before, so I ignored it and went back to bed.

G- I went in soon after and it was a massacre. Doctors, nurses, all of the subjects, killed. I had survived by just dumb luck. Просто глупая чертова удача!

He pounds the table in anger before sighing.

G - O- one of them was alive in a corner, covered by the dead. She must have hidden between them. I-I grabbed her, grabbed what samples remained and ran for my life.

G - I don't know why they destroyed everything. I think they finally realized it was time. That we were turning into the very monsters we stopped.

M - Is there anything else you would like to say?

Garl is silent before he speaks.

G - Please, give them a life that I couldn't. For the ones I tortured.

END TAPE


	4. Leverage

**July 28, 2018**

 **New York**

Dexter groaned as he moved out his chair. It was always quiet here, even on the weekend. No one really bothered to come here when there was a better place just a few blocks away. At least the pay was worth it staying here. And there was free wifi.

The silence was broken by a loud shatter, followed by a curse. Dex looked over at one of the nearby rooms. He debated calling the police, but figured it might be one of the occasional druggies who attempt to rob the place only to find most of the best drugs are locked away.

Peering into the room, he found the one of the craziest sights he had even seen in his medical career. A raccoon wearing some sort of uniform was scavenging through the cabinets, while something large laid on one of the nearby tables. Dex couldn't see what it was.

Now some animal had broken in and was rummaging through the equipment. Dex sighed and entered the room. He had grabbed the nearby broom. "Get out of here, scat!"

He thrust the broom at few inches short of the surprised creature. Before it backed up and...

drew a gun and spoke. "Put it down." It growled at him.

"Holy fuck.." Instantly, Dex had put his hands up. Did someone put weed in his afternoon brownie?

"Um... ok..." He slowly put down the broom, while the raccoon looked at him. He shivered. Was he hallucinating?

The raccoon sighed. "Just... stay out of the way. I just need some bandages and we'll be out of here."

"We?" Dex looked over at the table and saw it was a coyote, covered with a blanket. He could see a patch of blood on one of the sides. It was obvious it was injured.

The raccoon grimaced. "Damnit. Just... forget we were here, alright? I just need to-"

"Wait." Dex spoke, but regret it as the raccoon growled at him. He inwardly sighed, before speaking again. "Your friend needs help. I know how to treat animals."

The raccoon scoffed. "Really? You don't look like the type."

Dex looked over at the coyote. "At least let me see what happened, alright? I can help him."

The raccoon stared at the human, before groaning and kicking the floor in frustration. "Fine. But if you hurt him..." The raccoon didn't finish his sentence, but Dex could easily see that the coyote was not to be harmed.

He went carefully over to the coyote, and slowly pulled the blanket off. Wincing, he could see a poorly bandage wound on the coyotes side. Even while looking over the body, he could see the differences this coyote had from the others of his kind. His entire body was different, emulating a human, and he was dressed similarly to the raccoon.

He carefully lifted off the bandage, and saw the wound. A bullet had gone straight through, but it was still bleeding slowly. The bandage had helped a little bit, but he was still bleeding out.

Dex grimaced, quickly gathering the essentials that he needed. He applied pressure, and quickly put on another bandage, sealing both sides.

For the time being, it was stable. Dex looked over the coyote. Already, he was looking better.

The raccoon jumped up on the table, and sighed. "Thanks."

Dex looked down at his feet. "He'll need medical attention. One from a hospital. But he's stable for now."

Slowly, the coyote woke up, before groaning in pain. "What..."

The raccoon almost moved to hug him, before choosing not to. "You blacked out. You got wounded pretty bad."

Dex wisely decided to leave, closing the door behind him. He wanted to go outside to silently scream over this whole ordeal.

Rocket looked over, seeing the human left the room. He turned his attention back to Asher. "Ash. You have to go back. Without me."

The coyote winced at the pain in his wound. "W-what? Why the hell-"

Rocket nearly screamed out. "Because you almost died! I...I dragged you here, tried to bandage you up best I could, but you were still about to die. Even you know you can't keep running."

"They... they don't want you. They want me." Rocket looked down at himself. "I thought that if it was the two of us, we could do anything... but look at what happened! We barely got out and you nearly died."

Asher looked at the raccoon with tears in his eyes. "I am not going to leave you. That's final."

The raccoon sighed. "I...I'm sorry that I did this I-"

He was cut off by the sound of sirens, prompting the two to turn towards the sound. "Did he..."

"No. They must be tracking us. We have to go, now!"

The two raced as quickly as they could out of the vet.

"Monarch 1, we are approaching target area."

Marcus sighed. He couldn't believe this. He had no way to contact Rocket, to tell him the truth. That the info he was given was a lie.

The UNBSF was meant to draw Rocket out into the open. And reveal him to the public.

Garl had told him everything.

Garl had received a invitation to join the Grigorievich Collective after the Soviet Union fell in 1989. At first, he declined. But then they showed him the other survivor of the massacre.

Fenrir had been tortured by the Soviet Union soon after the massacre, and left to die when it fell. Garl had never realized there were more survivors. So Garl caved in and joined them. Partially out of regret, and curiosity.

The Grigorievich Collective took partial data from both the American and Soviet Project Animal and had used it to create their own agents. But there was a serious problem.

A defect in their genetic code was causing them to slowly die. It had at first only appeared in 5% of the animals genes, but now it was 75%.

Garl knew he had to find some way to fix it. He had found it. The original survivor of the massacre. The Mother.

And her child.

He had planned to go over to America and ask for it, but the other members of the Grigorievich Collective caught wind of his findings. Instead of simply agreeing to get help from the Americans, they realized the whole project might be in jeopardy. After all, most of their work had been taken from others. If the Americans saw what they had done, they would not be pleased.

So they imprisoned Garl, faked his death, and kept their eyes out for Rocket's whereabouts.

After being imprisoned for a few years, Fenrir broke him out, and let Garl go. But it was what the Grigorievich Collective had wanted all along.

They sent the false info, putting the UNBSF under suspicion. Then, they played the UNBSF by saying that Rocket was a Biohazard, forcing him on the run.

Now the Grigorievich Collective was able to hunt him down, capture him, or least show the world what America had to hide.

Marcus was such a fool.

Delilah looked down at her feet. "Damn them... We have to find the bi- raccoon before this goes to shit."

Garl grimaced. " , I believe it already has gone to shit."

"Monarch 1, in contact with unknown hostiles, heavily armed and heading towards the target!"

Marcus put his finger to his earpiece. "Can you intercept?"

"We're under heavy fire and... are they driving a truck?"

Rocket yelled out as the truck crashed through the gate, forcing several operatives in all black uniforms and several UNBSF soldiers to rush away from the speeding automobile.

Below on the gas was Asher, leaning into the gas as hard as he could. Rocket was driving the truck, grinning as they speed into the street. "Holy shit!"

Rocket could see two unlabeled SUV's following behind them. Grimacing, he pulled out his pistol, ready to fire.

Suddenly, the radio on his belt began to beep. Moving a hand to push the button, Marcus's voice began to speak. "Rocket! You need to stop!"

Rocket kept his attention on the road. "What the hell do you mean?"

"It's a trap! The whole situation is a -" Marcus's voice cut out.

Rocket swore. "Hold on!"

Thankfully, traffic was not as bad as it should have been. But already Rocket had made several close calls with near accidents. He swerved to get to another street, but the truck was going to fast. It flipped, spinning the two mammals around as it crashed on the sidewalk, thankfully not injuring any civilians.

Rocket was dazed, attempted to stand before grunting in pain. He ran over to Asher. His wound had reopened. "Ash..."

He tried to drag the coyote out of the truck, managing to squeeze through the broken windshield as the men surrounded them.

But it wasn't just soldiers. Civilians had taken out phones, taking video of the raccoon trying to help the coyote out. None of them approached as everything went on.

Rocket tried to look around, before realizing where he was. "Of all the fucking places.."

Times Square. The busiest part of New York. And now the whole world knew.

Rocket knelt down, the pain too much for him to go on.

"R-rocket?"

The raccoon turned toward the coyote. He was looking right into his eyes.

"Ash! You're not going to die, understand?" He cradled the coyote in his arms. "I- I don't want to lose you..."

Rocket could see police were already making their way towards the crime scene. The guys in black were nowhere to be seen.

He could barely say anything as the world went to black.

"I- I love you."

And then the pain was too much.


	5. Saying goodbye to the old world

Rocket's eyes opened suddenly as he woke up, wrenching his back up, before laying back down as the pain in his side flared. He looked around his room. It was a standard hospital room, with him being handcuffed to the bed. Naturally, he went to work trying to get the cuffs off, before he heard the door begin to open. Rolling back, he attempted to look asleep before he heard someone sigh.

"I know you're awake." Rocket turned towards the familiar voice.

"Marcus." The raccoon looked at the old man, before grunting as the pain hit again.

Marcus noticed his reaction. "I'll call th-"

"I'm fine." The raccoon sighed. "W-what happened?"

Marcus grimaced. "When you crashed into Times Square, the whole world saw you. The government is debating shutting the whole project down, but there's still a topic that Congress wants to debate over."

"And?" Rocket said.

"Mainly, whether to consider you an actual being."

The raccoon scoffed. "You can't be fucking serious."

"It's... a complicated process. While the director has shown the documents over Project Animal, they still are against counting the animals as a individual. Which may have drastic consequences."

"What do you mean?"

Marcus listed several things as he spoke. "You would have no rights, therefore making you property of the United States, and subject to any type of treatment they so desire. With Project Animal disbanded, they could just simply hand you over to anywhere they wanted. No freedom at all."

Rocket grimaced. "Fucking hell..."

Marcus continued. "We're putting together a list of known operatives you've worked with to prove that you are a person, not just some one following orders. It'll take a few days but when the time comes, you will have to stand against U.S Congress."

"What about Asher?"

Marcus sighed. "He's still healing, but he hasn't woken up since he got here. Doctors say he'll be awake by the time the trial ends."

"When you're ready, I'll take you to see him. But, please, rest. I don't want you getting hurt again."

It was a couple days after that when Rocket was given the notice that he was needed. Thankfully, the hybrid healed pretty easy over the past few days. He had watched most of the trial from news networks and from Marcus's own words but there was a pretty clear outcome.

50/50. Supposedly.

Meanwhile, the public was in awe of all of this. While the entirety of the purpose of Project Animal was still under wraps, the public saw Rocket as the ringleader of it all. For some reason.

First day after he woke up, he was bombarded by letters from all over the world, asking questions on nearly every part of his life or other things. Honestly, Rocket didn't mind the attention.

In the public's eyes, Rocket was a person. But the answer laid with Congress.

Rocket sighed as he prepared to enter the room. "Showtime."

For most of the debate, Rocket couldn't even get a word in. Many members seemed to be arguing among themselves over every bit of evidence.

He didn't even remember about why he was here until he was called up right to the front.

"Mr... Raccoon, is it?"

The raccoon looked at the person talking to him, some standard old white guy, grey hair and dark suit staring him down with annoyance.

"Do you know why you're here today?"

Rocket grinned. "No shit, pal. I'm here because you seemingly think that me and the whole rest of my people are stupid."

Rocket totally surmised that he'll definitely be censored after this. He was the one who swore the most out of all the others. (Marcus regretted ever allowing the raccoon to use swears.)

"Um..." This threw the senator off his rhythm. He clearly didn't expect that response. "We wanted to see if-"

"I'm an actual person. Doesn't the fact that I'm speaking now prove that?" The raccoon growled.

Another senator spoke. "You aren't entirely human, the data from Project Animal showed. We want to know, how much of you his human, and how much is non-human."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me..." Rocket muttered under his breath.

"Your people are a entire new sub-species, one that has no regulation, nothing that proves you aren't capable of doing harm to this country or any others. There are 5000, all spread out along this country, and all with the capability to kill. The statistics prove it."

The raccoon processed this for a minute. Was he saying...

"Are you saying you consider us all killers? Murderers?"

The senator paled. "It's not-"

"Listen the fuck up! Not all of us killed people, alright! Many teams were used for the exact opposite! To save people! Your people! And you stand here and call us all murderers?" Rocket anger was at it's peak. "We were made to protect innocent lives, by any means possible! Would you call every soldier a killer no matter what job they did?"

"But-"

"I'm not finished. You can't condemn all of us because some of us killed others. We killed terrorists, wanted men who attacked innocent people. Because I've killed hundreds of men, and I don't regret it. Do you want to say they had rather lived to go on killing? "

The senator cringed. "No."

"Good." Rocket calmed down, and sat back down in his seat. "Good."

"The majority voted yes. For once, your outbursts had a positive effect."

Rocket looked up at Marcus. "You're serious? I... damn."

The old man grinned. "I do have to say, that was a great speech. It's trending online. Mostly censored, but you can get the gist."

Rocket sighed. "After this, what do we do?"

"Technically, Project Animal is still under review, so you have no job." Marcus said. "But I was able to get you a place nearby to live while the investigation is ongoing. Lawyers say it might take a month but that's on the low probability."

Marcus's phone rang, prompting him to answer it. He waited, before looking down at the raccoon.

"He's awake."

Rocket wanted to burst through the door, to just go up to him and let out all the emotions he had felt. It was all inside him, waiting to burst out.

But he opened the door gently, seeing the coyote laying on the bed. Asher smiled as he saw him enter.

"Rocket."

Instantly, Rocket felt like he couldn't speak. He felt himself pounding at himself to just answer but the tension was there. But finally he spoke.

"Ash."

He leapt up onto the bed, sitting next to the coyote. "I've been... pretty busy."

Asher smirked. "They showed me the tape. You were amazing up there, you know that? Didn't realize you had the chops to talk down the whole Congress."

Rocket blushed. "I... I just wanted to be done with it all. And... see you awake. Every day, I came here, and... I saw you laying here. I just wanted -"

He was cut off by the unexpected thrust of a muzzle against his, in some sort of kiss. Rocket accepted it, then Asher left it just as quickly as he had started it.

"You-"

The coyote rolled his eyes. "You said it when I was about to die. I love you."

Rocket blushed even harder. "I... I do."

Asher smiled, cupping his paw with Rocket's face. "I do too, Rocket."

The two kissed again, Rocket's eyes tearing up as he finally let himself go, finally accepted that everything was going to be fine again.

But it was only the beginning.


	6. The first meeting

**November 18, 2001**

 **Project Animal HQ**

"Rocket!"

The juvenile raccoon looked up from working on his latest project. He sighed, leaping down from his chair.

"Yeah?" He responded back to Marcus's yell from downstairs.

"Come down. I've got a surprise for you!"

Rocket grinned. Marcus always had good surprises. He hoped it was another part for his gun, or maybe one of those new gaming systems that were on the market.

He came downstairs, only to see Marcus with another animal that looked around his age. A coyote. "Rocket, meet Asher."

Oh. Well at least it was someone he could test out his new games with him. Marcus smiled, motioning for the coyote to shake the raccoon's hand. "And this is Rocket. I'm his caretaker. Your room is upstairs, right past the stairs."

The coyote ran past the two to the room. Rocket looked at Marcus quizzically. "What was that about?"

Marcus sighed. "His caretaker was killed in Afghanistan. He's been taking it hard, so I brought him here."

Rocket cringed. "Well sh- dang. That sucks." Rocket saw Marcus's eyes narrow as he almost cursed.

"He might stay in his room for most of the time, but past that, I don't know."

The raccoon looked up at the closed door. "He seems... nice."

It was close to 8:00 when Asher came out of his room.

Rocket was still playing Halo when the coyote came out of his room. He looked sad, but Rocket saw him light up when he saw what was being played.

"You got Halo?"

The raccoon grinned. "Yeah. Marcus is the best at getting these. I got this after passing a training test with a high A. It's really great."

Asher sat down next to the raccoon, who in-game was currently taking down aliens with blasts from a assault rifle. He was silent as Rocket continued fighting.

Rocket passed Asher on of the spare controllers. "Here."

Asher took it, turning it on.

"Um... thanks."

Rocket smiled. "No prob."

The two played for a while, Rocket actually got to see Asher smile for the first time since he got here.

It was around 10:00 when they had reached the second to last level, and Asher was completely interested in what would happen next.

"There's so much going on! All these aliens and monsters and fighting. I wish I had this back at home..." Asher trailed off, before frowning.

He ran off without another word back to his room, not even glancing back at Rocket. Rocket grimaced. Marcus was right. The coyote was taking it hard.

Rocket had been busy working with his latest gun when the sound of groaning came from Asher's room. The soft kind, like one was having a nightmare.

Rocket didn't want to intrude, but as it went on, he jumped down off the table, and went to Asher's door.

The raccoon sighed. "Just a quick peek, then back out." He peered into the door.

The coyote was laying on his bed, muttering something as all the covers had been taken off. Rocket could see that Asher looked pained, turning often.

Rocket cringed. He felt it was just wrong to just look in on the coyote at his most vulnerable. He attempted to close the door, but it creaked loudly.

Ashers' eyes shot open, looking right at the raccoon. Rocket rushed around the corner, out of sight as he softly groaned. "Shit..."

"It's alright..." Rocket could hear the coyote softly speak. "I'm fine..."

Rocket sighed, then let himself peer through the door. "Sorry, I just work with my stuff pretty late and I thought I heard some-"

"I'm sorry... It's just..." Asher was sitting up in the bed, looking down. "I just keep thinking back to when I last saw James."

"Your caretaker?" Rocket was still outside the door, wanting to avoid stepping in.

"I...I said some shitty stuff before he left. About how he wouldn't let me do anything, how I couldn't see the real world. He kept saying that it was necessary, but I wouldn't drop it. He left with thinking I hated him! Like some sort of freak!" Asher had tears coming from his eyes as he silently cried into his arm.

Rocket stepped into the room, crouching by the bed. "I-I'm sure he didn't think that. Jesus, I've said way worse with Marcus when I was younger and I regretted it. But I'm sure he didn't think that at all." He sighed. "You're not a freak. If you are, then I am too, got it?"

Asher looked at Rocket, his eyes wet with tears. He wiped them off before sighing. "I... Thank you. That... helps."

Rocket smiled. "I bet James is proud you got this far, right? Not many of us are able to be able to do what we can do."

Asher laid back down to go to sleep. Rocket exited the room, closing the door right before coming face to leg with Marcus. He yelped. "Jesu-"

"Rocket." The human looked down at the raccoon. Rocket looked up at the human with surprise.

"I was just-" Rocket tried to explain.

"I know. What you did was amazing." Marcus's smile looked genuine as he knelt down. "He's never been able to open up since James's death, and I'm proud you comforted him. Thank you."

Rocket seemed speechless.

Marcus smirked. "He'll stay here for a few nights, but he'll be moved with Weyland's group after."

"Can I still see him?" The raccoon never really interacted with the other members of Project Animal. Mostly because some were younger than he was, or less developed. Marcus had told him once that he was special because he born differently. Marcus never really specified how, but he seemed tense when asked about it.

"Well, I'll have to pull some strings with Weyland, but I'll see what works best." Marcus grinned. "You seem to like him."

Rocket shrugged. "He's... cool."

Marcus started to go back downstairs. "You would be great friends."

Rocket smirked as the human left. He was right though. Asher did seem cool.


	7. Tear the Roots (Sexual Content Warning)

WARNING: SEXUAL CONTENT AHEAD

 **August 16th**

 **New York**

Rocket hated being cooped up in this apartment Marcus had gotten him while Project Animal's fate was still being decided. While he did like most of the stuff Marcus had brought over from his room back at base, he was bored going through most of the same games he'd finished a long time ago. There was only enough Halo he could play before he just went back to bed.

But with Asher there, Rocket felt... something new. Sure, he spent a lot of time with him before, but now that their feelings were out in the open, it felt like something he had never had before.

Rocket heard a knock on the door, turning towards it. "It's open."

Asher entered, with a smile on his face. "Just wanted to see you." He leaned back on the wall. "Anything new from Marcus?"

The raccoon scoffed. "Not really. Just more politics over the Project. But hopefully it'll be done soon and this can all be over."

But in Rocket's mind, he knew it was just starting. Project Animal was all the world could talk about, ever since the incident in Times Square. They were the topic on nearly every social media site, even had fans. He'd even seen art people had posted of him and Asher online. Even though it could sometimes be "suggestive", he did like some of the more artistic ones.

Asher hadn't seen most of those thankfully, and Rocket was glad for it. Asher was never really the sexual type. A majority of the subjects in Project Animal were sterile, and not many had the drive to actually do much.

Rocket was one of the few that actually wasn't against the act of sex. While he hadn't been with anyone else, the concept of sex wasn't foreign to him.

Rocket just didn't want to approach the coyote with it suddenly. He didn't want to just spring it on him.

Rocket debated the words he wanted to say before sighing.

"So... I have a question for you. Just a simple yes or no question." Rocket cringed as he finished the sentence. Really, that is how you word it?

"Shoot." Asher smiled. "Unless it's stupid, I'm up for it."

Rocket's heart felt like it was racing. Christ, was he a damn schoolgirl? "I... wanted to know... what you thought about...sex...and stuff?"

Asher looked surprised. He scratched the back of his head. "I...never really thought about it. But if you really are up for it, sure."

Rocket blushed. "Just like that?"

The coyote smirked. "Yeah. Just like that. Besides, you've been too tense with all this political stuff. You just...need something to relax you." He flopped down onto the bed next to Rocket, waiting for a response.

Rocket grinned and leaped onto him.

The two mammals kissed on the bed, a firestorm of feelings coming together as they laid there.

Rocket was already working on getting Asher's pants off, succeeding with haste. He smirked as he grabbed Asher's member, stroking it. "I thought you said I was the tense one."

The coyote growled in pleasure. "D-damn...you do prove a point..."

Even though it was his first time, Rocket felt like a professional as he stroked the coyote's member.

He grinned as he thought of a genius idea. Asher didn't have time to ask before Rocket went at it.

Rocket was already putting his mouth over the length, taking it in.

Asher groaned. "Jesus Rocky... you're making this pretty hard to keep up..." The coyote was almost at his limit, growling softly as Rocket went down more on his member.

It was like this for a few seconds before the tension finally got to it's boiling point.

"Gonna-"

Rocket took this warning quickly, waiting till the last second to come off before the coyote came.

Asher groaned, finally spent. He flopped dramatically onto the bed, sighing. "Holy shit..."

Rocket looked bashful as he laid down next to the mammal. "That... was great. Never really did that before. Just heat of the moment shit."

Asher brought the raccoon closer into an embrace, letting the raccoon snuggle next to him. Rocket sighed, resting his head against his chest.

"I love you, Rocket." The coyote kissed the top of the soon sleeping raccoon's head. Soon, the two were entwined with each other as they slept.


	8. Uplifted Above all

**August 21st**

 **UNBSF HQ**

With the abrupt retirement of Project Animal, many of their forces were placed in the hands of the UN and the UNBSF. Suppossedly, the new agreement being created by Marcus would link both Project Animal and UNBSF, hopefully to help find out more on the Grigorievich Collective.

The Grigorievich Collective had been only heard in whispers after the Cold War ended, supposedly being the work of combining several projects that had been "retired" by the Soviet Union. Possible biological weapons, super soldiers, the list goes on. And only one person had been with them.

Garl Yevgenievich. One of the only survivors of the massacre that nearly destroyed an entire sub-species. He was the savior of hundreds of unborn lives.

But now there was the question of what he was now.

Garl had been placed under isolation until now, being interrogated by Marcus. Rocket had been invited by Marcus to overlook the proceedings. The raccoon had little else to do (besides Asher), so now he watched through the glass as the old man fidgeted in his chair.

"You told me that the Grigorievich Collective had their own project. How different is their mammals from ours?" Marcus said.

Garl sighed. "It... it is a more troubling process. Unlike Project Animal, we used both cybernetics and genetic modification to speed up the process of uplifting. The process we use is referred to as uplifting. Instead of having to birth subjects, we used... other means."

"Other means?"

"While, for example, with a subject in Project Animal may take nearly 18 years to grow to a state of combat effectiveness, we take a unmodified mammal, and with a combination of DNA and surgery, can make them combat effective in 7 years. But there is a cost to it all."

Garl continued. "To condense the time needed for combat effectiveness, we must heavily modify the mind and body. In basic terms, we tear them apart and rebuild them. All while they are conscious, to make sure the brain works as intended."

Marcus stiffened. "You tortured them."

Garl sighed. "We had to, otherwise the strain of either the body or mind failing would kill them. But it gave us far better results if we kept them conscious. The brain activity would allow them to survive the process." He grimaced. "I... I tried to stop it. But when we did with care... it was like something shut off in them. One moment, completely healthy... the next, brain dead... or worse."

Marcus starred the man down. "You told me once that you left everything behind because of something like this. Torture. Death. Why did you stay?"

Garl looked down at his feet."I... I tried to save them, I really did. There was a group that formed together, broke out of one of the facilities. I faked their deaths on a record, made it look like they died after a accident. I... have no idea where they would have gone. But part of me hopes they are safe."

Marcus sat up. "I can't forgive you for this. You'll go away for a long time for what you've done."

Garl looked back at the man. "I never needed forgiveness. Just hope that you can stop this. Save them in the way I never could."

 **Abandoned Warehouse near the outskirts of New York**

"Are you sure those coordinates led to here?"

After Garl's interrogation, Rocket, Asher, and Reynard had been given orders to go to coordinates that had been found on Garl's laptop, hidden between research from his work with the Grigorievich Collective. It was good being back to the old days before this all happened. As a team.

Each were equipped with their gear from Project Animal. Rocket with his Kriss Vector, Asher with a customized P90, and Reynard with his M9.

"This place looks fucking sketchy as hell. Be on your guard."

The team braced against the wall as Rocket went by the door.

Reynard smirked. "Heard the news about you guys. Can't believe it took that long for you to get together already."

Rocket sighed. "Was it really that noticeable?"

"The way you kept looking at his ass was noticeable."

Rocket blushed. "Jerk."

The door opened, creaking loudly as the team entered the building. It was pitch black, but as their eyes began to adjust, they were able to see clearer.

"Nothing but boxes here." The team stayed together as they looked through the warehouse.

"Look!" Asher pointed to something near a larger box. "Looks like a bed."

The "bed" looked to be only a bit bigger than a dog bed, circular and old.

"Did Garl have a dog?" Reynard posed the question.

Rocket sighed. "No. Not at all."

That could only mean one thing.

Garl must have lied when he said that the Uplifted he freed never were in contact with him. That must mean...

The thought was cut off when he heard Reynard slump over, a needle in his neck. He barely had time to dodge before a needle shot at him, missing by a few inches. He heard a feminine voice curse as he ducked behind a crate.

"Ash!" The raccoon looked back to see Asher had gotten behind cover, and had dragged the fox over.

"It just put him to sleep. Just stay down and I'll call-" He barely had time to say anything before a needle shot down from above. Rocket aimed his gun upwards and fired. The bullets missed their mark, but forced whoever was up there to run.

Rocket ran towards the two unconscious bodies, but stopped himself. That's what they would want him to do, go towards the wounded. So he ran in the opposite direction. "Shit..."

It was after several minutes of hiding that he realized he must have lost them. Rocket grimaced.

He heard several voices as he hid behind another crate.

"Fen! You find the other one yet?" That was the feminine voice.

"No. He hides well. Be glad Oz didn't get a bullet in his leg." That was from a male, lower tone.

He heard a male voice, soft. "I'm fine, Lylla! Jeez..."

These must be the group that attacked them. Non-lethal weapons, something that would put them to sleep.

He readied his weapon, not to fire, but hopefully to get them to settle down. He turned the corner-

only to meet a fist to the face.

Rocket awoke to blinding lights, tied to a chair. His hearing was muffled as he slowly awoke, before finally seeing his captors.

Three mammals were in front of him. One was an albino raccoon, polishing a modified gun of sorts. Next was a wolf, similar to that Fenrir wolf Marcus had talked about, except less scarred, and lighter fur.

Finally there was an otter, looking at him with annoyance. "You're the one from the news. The one that is so important to everything happening."

Rocket grimaced. "Wow. Glad to see you keep up with the times. Didn't mean you have to punch me in the face."

The otter did a side glance over to the wolf. "That was all him. Had to be sure you weren't going to turn us in."

"I'm not going to. We're on the same side." Rocket sighed. "We found this place from Garl's laptop."

The albino looked up. "Garl? Is he ok?"

Rocket shrugged. "It's... complicated. But he's fine. I know that for sure."

The albino smiled. "Thanks. He... saved us. Found us this place and got us some supplies. I made a few rifles for taking down guys in-case the Collective ever came after us."

The wolf looked over Rocket. "Lylla, you want me to let him go? He doesn't seem to want to cause any harm to us. He did tell us about how Garl is."

Lylla sighed. "Fine. Don't make me regret this."

The otter motioned for the wolf to untie the raccoon, letting him get of the chair.

Rocket looked around. "Where's-"

Lylla motioned to one of the containers. "Locked them in there. It has air, so we made it into a little area in case of visitors. Like you."

Rocket cringed. This otter clearly didn't like him encroaching on their home. He went to the door of the container, and swung it open.

He saw the two mammals inside, clearly bored, before Asher saw it was Rocket.

"Rocket!" The coyote ran up to Rocket and gathered him in a huge hug.

"Ash."The raccoon smirked. "It was all a big misunderstanding. These guys are the ones Garl freed."

Asher and Reynard looked at the group of three uplifts.

"Well...Hello?"

It had all started years ago. All three did remember the same memory. Pain.

"Our... bodies were not given time to adjust. Bones reformed, regrown. Electronics inserted to enhance the body. The mind. If it wasn't for Garl, I... would've died."

Oz was made to work with electronics, weapons, all things involving making stuff. Kinda reminded Rocket of himself. Except his limbs were more scarred than the rest of his body, and the bones in his hands were modified to move faster. And his fingers were apparently reformed to be able to get him to this point.

Lylla was supposedly a stealth unit, made to infiltrate without raising a conflict. Made to kill without remorse. But the process to remove her emotions didn't stick. There was still something in the back of her mind that made her regret her kills.

Fenrir was a special case. What Rocket learned was that Fenrir was in a basic terms, a clone of a certain batch. A wolf reformed to become a ultimate killer and tank, able to take multiple hits before being taken down.

Now that they were able to see them better, Rocket could see what Garl had meant by extreme modifications. Some were heavily scarred around the area that was most worked on. Arms, chest, it all showed that the Grigorievich Collective didn't care about them.

They just wanted results.

Rocket was horrified. How many more of the uplifted had been treated like this? How many were there?

"We... our guys can help you. With all of this-"

"No." Lylla looked down at him. "No way."

Oz sighed. "Lylla, please..."

Lylla grimaced in anger. "I'm not going to be turned into a weapon again. Not by the Collective and not by you." She finished by pointing at Rocket.

"It won't be like that! What we do is our choice. We can keep you safe from these guys."

Fenrir stepped forward. "I'll go with you."

Lylla looked over at the wolf. "What?"

Fenrir sighed. "We can't keep running. And Oz... he needs as much help as he can get."

Oz scratched the back of his neck before stepping forward. "I... I can come. Just... I don't want them to hurt anyone else."

Lylla looked at the two uplifts who were now on the other side, and waited, grimacing.

She then stepped forward.

"If you ever hurt them, I'll make you wish for a quick death, understand?" She looked at the raccoon, her eyes narrowed down. She was serious.

"It will never come to that. I promise."

"You better."


	9. Nightmares

Somewhere

 _He was back in the white room again, the broken body of the other dark furred wolf kept trying to get up. Fenrir's paws were raw with blood as he overlooked the injured body of his brother. He could see the sliver of his implants as his brother struggled to get back up. The wolf's back was horrifically scarred, his back implants were gray with bits of blood from the beat down splattered all over._

 _He showed nothing as he avoided looking at him. The last time he had shown sympathy, it was worse for him. He just wanted for it to stop._

 _But he knew if he stopped that it would be worse for both of them._

 _Finally, the dark furred wolf flopped down._

 _The door opened, with several gas-mask wearing soldiers along with one of the scientists coming through. Three of the soldiers knelt by the body of his brother, and slowly picked him._

 _In an instant, his brother lashed out, attempted to struggle. Not to kill the soldiers, but to run from what was coming._

 _"Cheater! Cheater!" The hoarse voice broke out, directed right at Fenrir. He didn't move as the soldiers took him away, tranqing him as they went out of the room._

 _The scientist sighed. "Another implant for him. Wonder if they will take his jaw and shut him up." He smirked for a second before turning his attention to Fenrir._

 _"Another flawless fight. You've made such great progress over the years. Only a few more and you will be done." He left the room, leaving the wolf standing alone._

 _He repeated the message in his mind like a mantra, again and again._

 _"Only a few more and you will be done."_

 _"Only a few more and you will be done."_

 _"Only a few more and you will be do-_

The wolf was broken out of the memory by the light speaking of someone's voice.

He was in bed, safe. The room the UNBSF had provided him.

Waking up a bit, he could see the red fur crouching by his bed.

"Rey?" Fen could see the fox looked mildly concerned. The fox backed away a bit.

"Sorry, it was just... I heard you talking in your sleep. You sounded... distressed."

Fenrir sighed. "It was just a nightmare. It's nothing."

Reynard looked like he was about to say something, but stopped, before making his way to exiting the room.

The fox looked back at Fenrir. "It's 9:00, if you're wondering what time it is. I'm heading down for breakfast if you want any."

The wolf's ear's perked up at the thought of food. "I'll be there."


	10. ANPU

**August 27th**

 **UNBSF HQ**

"Rocket?"

The raccoon woke as he felt the gentle touch of his lover against his shoulder.

He grumbled something as he turned to see the coyote fully dressed, but looking worried.

Rocket snapped out of his funk pretty quick. "What?"

Asher waited while the raccoon got dressed. "Command wants you. It's pretty urgent."

Once Rocket had gotten dressed in some casual wear, he and the coyote went straight to Command. Once they had made it inside, it was obvious something was wrong. Various workers were scattered around electrical servers, and all the screens in the Command room had the same symbol. A silhouette of a jackal's head.

Rocket stared at it. "What the hell?"

Marcus appeared from one of the side rooms. "It's been like this for a hour. No way to crack into it. Seems to be a external connect-"

Suddenly, a voice was heard, deeply monotone and modified. "I see you've gotten him. Good. Now, let's get started."

Rocket looked at the main screen, the place where the voice was coming from. "Who the hell are you?"

The voice spoke. "You may call me Anpu. And I believe we have a common enemy."

"Common enemy?"

The voice sighed. "The Grigorievich Collective. They created me. Then dumped me when I wasn't effective enough. I survived."

"You're an uplift." Rocket said. "Like the others we rescued."

"Yes. My skills with computers was one of the best. But they wanted a warrior, not someone who sat in the back lines. So they shot me and left me dead." ANPU said. "But I still have access to most of their database. Including this man."

The screen lit up with a picture of a man with a ballistic mask over his face, dark green eyes. "This is the Blacksmith. He is behind every single creation of an uplift. He supervises the entire process."

Asher looked the picture over. "How does this help us?"

"In five days, he will be at Tranquility Base, one of new hotels built in Las Vegas. He is one of the most important members of the Collective. Without him, the entire process will grind to a halt."

Rocket folded his arms. "How do I know this is not a trap?"

ANPU sighed. "While I understand this might be hard to trust with all the chaos you've suffered, just ask one of your friends about him. They will know who he is."

The symbol disappeared, leaving Rocket worried over ANPU's last words.

"Oz?" The albino raccoon looked up from his food as he saw Rocket coming toward him.

"Hey!" He let the raccoon sit down opposite from him. "What do you need?"

"There was a situation with some hacker a little while ago. He mentioned some guy named the Blacksmith?"

Oz tensed up, before sighing. "I... I remember him. He... was not nice. But I only saw him when someone screwed up. You want to know who knows the most about him?"

"Who?" Rocket said.

"Lylla never liked to talk about him when we got out. She was his personal bodyguard. Knows what makes him tick. Just don't delve to deeply, you know? She doesn't like old memories."

Rocket nodded.

Rocket looked at the door in partial dread. Honestly, he should just drop it, but part of him wanted to at least tell her about this guy. Maybe give her chance to at least know what is going to be done.

He sighed, knocking on the door. It opened to the face of a otter.

"Rocket?" Lylla looked at him.

"We got some information about this guy from the Collective. Oz said you knew him."

Lylla eyes narrowed down before looking down. "It's The Blacksmith, isn't it?"

"We're moving to take him down hopefully, but if you have any good information-"

Lylla sighed. "There's nothing I could tell you that would help. But I can tell you one thing. He's a monster. He'll try to manipulate you. Turn you. I've seen him do it before."

Rocket didn't say anything before rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, It's jus-"

"It's fine. Just promise me when you get everything you want from him, leave him some time with me, understand?"

Rocket gulped. "Y-yeah."

The otter shut her door closed as Rocket cringed. Could have done that better...

It was four days after ANPU (Which Rocket found to be a really stupid codename) had informed them on the Blacksmith and his whereabouts. Now the team was ready to head over to Las Vegas, with one plus member.

Fenrir was advised to join. Reynard has pushed for him to help with finding the target. Apparently his sense of smell was good enough to help locate the Blacksmith.

Fenrir decided to only take a pistol, just in case. The wolf was more suited for close quarters combat, and disliked shooting from afar.

They were all equipped with some form of Non-lethal hardware. Tasers, stun grenades, the whole shebang.

They were all wearing the same uniform, a bright green jumpsuit with a kevlar like vest over their chest. They also had knee pads and arms pads for more protection.

Rocket sighed as they entered the vertibird. "You really are taking a liking to this guy, Rey."

Reynard blushed. "It's not like that..."

The pilot of the vertibird emerged from the cockpit, taking off his mask, revealing a slightly shaved brown haired man. "You're the squad."

Rocket nodded. "Yep. That's us. And you are?"

The man grinned. "Just call me Sky-lord."


	11. Turbo Killer Part 1

**September 1st**

 **Tranquility Base, Las Vegas, Nevada**

Tranquility Base was all lit up, red lights outlined the building as the vertibird approached the hotel. It was night time, and the city was all lit up. The city of sin. Perfect for a criminal.

"We're here." Sky-Lord said. Rocket had to say it, but that was the dumbest pilot name ever. Also, who the hell listens to just 80's music the whole way? Ugh!

The vertibird had parked on the pad on top of the hotel, letting the team out onto the top of the building. Rocket sighed as he loaded his taser. "This guy better be worth it."

The team quietly approached the door leading to downstairs, sneaking down past darkened hallways. Fenrir stopped, sniffing the air.

He knelt down on the carpeted floor. "He's down two floors. Has 2 guards. But..." He paused for a minute, looking confused. "there's something that I can't identify. Metal...flesh...still human."

Asher cursed. "That has trap written all over it. How do we do this?"

The fox smirked. "Rocket and Asher rush them, and we take whatever is left. Then we exfil, and hopefully get answers from this guy." He looked over at Fenrir. "Anything you know about this Blacksmith's ability to fight?"

Fenrir grimaced. "Hand-to-hand combat, all sorts of guns. Just don't underestimate him. He's been in the millitary, but that's as much as I know. I don't know much else. He was secretive, even with Lylla. She only knows that he was a soldier, and that he gave up his old life when he joined the Collective."

Rocket shrugged. "We'll still kick his ass any time of the day. Let's do this shit."

The team moved up the door, Rocket and Asher at the front. Rocket and Asher had their weapons out as they stacked up against the door. Rocket placed a breaching charge on the door, then pulled out a flash-bang.

"Ready?"

Asher nodded.

The charge went off with a loud bang, destroying part of the door, leaving a hole which let Rocket throw the flash-bang into the room.

He heard several shouts of surprise, then a loud bang. Rocket rushed into the room, seeing two suited guards trying in vain to see where the enemy was coming from. Hoping from a nearby wall, he jumped on the shoulder of the first guard, then tasered him in the neck. As the first guard fell, he flipped over to the next one, letting loose a string of punches to the guard's head, knocking him out and causing him to fall to the floor. Rocket smirked.

"Too easy." Rocket could see that there was a second room attached to the first. He reloaded his taser, then motioned for the team to follow. "Fen, is he in here?"

The wolf nodded. Rocket and Asher kept their guns trained on the door as they did the same maneuver from before. "Ready?"

The coyote nodded, and the two burst into the bedroom. The two could see the Blacksmith standing by the window, mask on his head. His hair was a gold-brownish color, and he wore a dark black suit. He stared out into the dark night.

"So you've finally come. The champion of uplifts. The savior. At least that is what many of one's I oversee call you."

Rocket grit his teeth. "What?"

The Blacksmith turned around. "I've seen what you've done. A true warrior, fighting for the good old U.S.A. But you are just a pawn for them. And you've been looking for anything to fill the void of information that is the Collective. So here I am."

Rocket could sense the man grinning under his mask. "We're here for you. Just get down on your kn-"

"Not yet." The Blacksmith's eyes narrowed from inside the mask. "I will come with you without incident, but I must have one request."

The raccoon stared him down. "And what is that?"

The Blacksmith turned his eyes towards Fenrir. "The return of our property. Three uplifts thought to be dead. Including one I truly cared for. Hand them over and... this all stops."

The team looked at him in silence, before Reynard spoke up. "Hell no. You really think that will work? We aren't just going to give you them to torture."

The Blacksmith sighed. "Well, I think there will be a incident."

Rocket aimed his gun at the Blacksmith's head. "Try anything and-"

"Gunther? Val?"

Rocket's blood ran cold. Who was-

The thought was cut off as a hulk of a being rushed through the other wall. Nearly all his body was covered in cybernetics, even his eyes were replaced by dark orbs. He grinned. Another shape burst out from behind him. It was a wolf, also similarly augmented. His paws were metal like, and two blades came out of the areas between his fingers. When Fenrir saw him, his eyes widened.

"Brother?"


End file.
